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Few exploits of the 20th century could match the courage and perseverance of the Shackleton expedition. Ernest Shackleton became the ultimate model for crisis management when his ill-fated 1914 Antarctic expedition met with disaster. His ship, the Endurance, was stranded amidst the expanding ice floes of the South Atlantic. Initially forced to abandon the vessel (which would eventually sink as a result of the hull being crushed by pack ice), Shackleton established a series of temporary camps on the ice, in the hopes that his party would eventually drift closer to civilization.
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Is anyone out there
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All right, it's running short. Ernest Shackleton was an Irish explorer. He's also the ultimate model for crisis management
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which he became when his 1914 expedition met with what can only be described as complete and utter disaster
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Their trip to the Antarctic showed the sheer magnitude of Shackleton's inspirational journey and has made him a pop
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culture icon of bravery and leadership. Today, we're going to take a look at what happened when explorer Ernest Shackleton was
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stranded in the Antarctic for years. Ruol Amundsen and Robert Scott had already reached the South Pole in 1914, so if Ernest
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Shackleton was going to leave his mark, he'd have to do something else. Eventually, he decided to attempt the first continental crossing of Antarctica
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The trip was so lengthy, Shackleton would need two teams to complete it
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One would leave from South America, the other would leave from Tasmania and land on the
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opposite side of the continent, along the Ross Sea. Since the South American party wouldn't be able to carry enough supplies to make it completely
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across, the Tasmania party would have to cross nearly a third of the whole continent just
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to set up the necessary supply depot. It wasn't a terrible plan, in theory, but the whole thing was rendered moot by Shackleton's
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failure to even reach Antarctica. Due to unusually cold temperatures, his ship became trapped in the
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ice. He was less than 100 miles from land, but it didn't matter. He would have to wait until the
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ice melted before he could reach the continent, which could take months. As if being stuck wasn't bad enough, Shackleton also had to prepare for the possibility that the
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pressure being exerted by the ice would crush his ship. He removed weight from the vessel
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hoping that it would rise in the event the ice pushed together. If that didn't work, the ship would simply be crushed
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The underwater sea currents exerted incredible forces, pulling both the ice and Shackleton's ship miles from shore
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The frequent blizzards and freezing winds didn't help either. Shackleton and his crew could only wait, and wait they did
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for six long, cold months. By the end of October, the ship had sustained significant damage to its stern
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Within a few days, it was obvious the Endurance wasn't going to make it
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On October 27th, Shackleton finally gave the order to abandon ship. With the loss of the Endurance any hope of completing the original mission went with it Shackleton sole focus became getting his men back to civilization And it wasn going to be easy The ship had drifted 1 miles in 281 days
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That put the team about 350 miles from remote Paulette Island, the nearest outpost that could provide shelter and supplies
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The group salvaged as much as possible before the ship sank. But with their supplies decreasing, they were forced to supplement their diets
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by eating seals and even penguins. They spent almost a month salvaging
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before the ship finally disappeared beneath the icy water. Once it was gone, they headed out
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Shackleton's plan was to march across the ice to the northern tip of Antarctica
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And if the ice broke apart, they would take to the lifeboats they salvaged from the Endurance
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Once the ship sank, the main mission was over. And once that main mission was over
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the sled dogs' days were numbered. Not only were they potential food, but the dogs actually
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consumed more meat than the men did, which made them a liability. On October 20, 1915
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Shackleton's second-in-command, Frank Wilde, shot five of the dogs and the expedition's cat
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By January of 1916, 30 dogs had been culled. And on March 30, the last of the dogs were consumed
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At that point, the men were so hungry and desperate that they didn't care what they were
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eating. Frank Wild would later comment, I have known many men who I would rather have shot than
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these dogs. Shackleton and his team started by heading north across the ice flows, but his exact
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route was limited by ice and weather conditions. It wouldn't be until April that there would be
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breaks in the ice significant enough to allow the men to navigate their lifeboats in the open water
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Though they were initially hoping to use the boats to reach Deception Island, the frequent
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exposure to the freezing seawater exhausted the men. So instead, on April 15, they put ashore
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on a seven-mile-long beach of Elephant Island, a small island off the northernmost peninsula of Antarctica
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It was the first time Shackleton and his men had stood on land in 497 days
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It was also the safest they had been in months. Camping on dry land was exponentially safer
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than camping on an ice floe that could break apart at literally any moment
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After assessing the situation, Shackleton eventually concluded that the only way to save his men would be to reach South Georgia
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Island and return with help. Unfortunately, the island was over 900 miles away
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across some of the most turbulent oceans on the face of the earth And all Shackleton had was a 20 long lifeboat As if that wasn hard enough finding the tiny outpost that measured just 100 miles long and 20 miles wide
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would require exacting navigation using only a chronometer and a sextant. The lifeboat was fitted with a mast
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and loaded up with a month's worth of supplies. Why just a month
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Well, Shackleton reasoned that by then, he should have succeeded or died
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Along with five other men, he set sail on April 24th. Frank Wilde was left in command of the 22 men who stayed behind
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If Shackleton didn't return by the following spring, they would try to reach an uninhabited whaling outpost on Deception Island
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Shackleton's ship traveled about 60 miles a day, and the sailors were quickly drenched by the rough seas
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They would spend the next few weeks wet and frostbitten, their skin raw and continuously irritated by the seawater
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On the fifth day, they were hit by a powerful gale that threatened to capsize the ship and brought cold temperatures that froze the water on the boat in heavy layers
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This ice needed to be constantly chipped off, and any excess weight, including their frozen sleeping bags and spare oars, had to be tossed overboard to maintain speed
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The sun came out on the seventh day, by which point they had traversed about 350 miles
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The next few days were calm, but day 11 brought another gale that almost sank them
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Finally, just 14 days after leaving Elephant Island, the crew spotted South Georgia Island
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You'd think it'd be celebration time, but the team couldn't find a suitable area to land
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so they had to spend yet another night enduring hurricane-force conditions on their tiny boat
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The next day, they made landfall at King Hocken Bay, but the ordeal wasn't over
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King Hocken Bay sits on the unsettled southern side of the island. With their rudder broken and their ship leaking
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the team didn't think they could reach the other side of the island in a boat. Instead, they would have to cross on foot
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This meant an unprecedented journey that would require traversing rocks, ice, and glaciers
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that reached 5,000 feet in elevation, all in deep snow. But they had no choice
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Three of the men were too weak to make the trip, so Shackleton took two others with him
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and left the others at the bay. They took three days' worth of food, attached screws to the bottoms of their worn boots
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for traction and left their sleeping bags behind. Their destination was the whaling station at Stromness
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The only catch was, Shackleton hadn't been there in two years, and he wasn't even completely sure
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the station was still populated Nevertheless the trio set out on May 19 at 2 AM under the light of a full moon They spent most of their first day getting lost among the glaciers and had to retrace their steps
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Finally, they decided to escape the high altitude by gliding down the steep incline, roped together
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It worked, but they still had to overcome another 2,000-foot glacier and a 25-foot waterfall before reaching the outskirts of Stromness
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After their months-long ordeal, the three men weren't looking so hot. The clothes were filthy, tattered, and all three had long hair and beards
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When they ran into two children on their way to the station, they got a predictably amusing response
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Shackleton asked the children for the station manager by name, at which point the kids' eyes went wide with fear, and they turned and ran in the opposite direction
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When Shackleton did finally track down the station master, the man had no idea who he was, despite the fact they had met before
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The three men Shackleton left behind at King Hocken Bay were quickly retrieved by a whaling ship from Stromness
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But rescuing the other 22 men that stayed behind on Elephant Island
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would be much more difficult. With the First World War raging, the British government didn't have much in the way of resources to spare
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Shackleton tried reaching Elephant Island in a whaling ship, but he had to turn back when he encountered a barrier of solid ice
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He would try and fail three more times. Finally, the Chilean government stepped in
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and provided a small tugboat called the Yelcho. It set off on August 20, and five days later
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just as the 22 men on Elephant Island were preparing for a lunch of penguin breast
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and stewed seal bones, the Yelcho arrived. The men could see the Yelcho lower a smaller boat
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into the water. As it drew near, it became clear who was driving it
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Ernest Shackleton. As he approached, he yelled, all well. Frank Wild called back to him, all safe, all well
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Within an hour, all 22 men were headed back safely to Punta Arenas, Chile
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Because of the war, Shackleton's return to Britain didn't receive much attention
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Shortly after he got back, he volunteered for the army and was eventually involved in efforts in both Norway and Russia
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Once the war was over, Shackleton borrowed some money from a college classmate
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to mount yet another expedition to Antarctica. This time he intended to circumnavigate the continent
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However, Shackleton's health was deteriorating in the years leading up to this expedition
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And on January 4, 1922, shortly after arriving on South Georgia Island, he suffered a fatal heart attack
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His wife requested that he be buried in a small cemetery on that island, where he rests to this day
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